a spoonful of honey

so, like many americans i suffer from seasonal allergies. growing up, i remember my family mentioning the mention of honey in the Qur'an. my aunt has been touting the brilliance of honey for various ailments.

so this past summer i decided to try eating a spoonful of LOCAL, RAW honey every day in hopes of lessening my symptoms. i dunno about everyone else, but i can certainly say that my seasonal allergies have DRAMATICALLY decreased! if not causation, there is definitely a correlation between the two for me.

here is some lit on the benefits of honey:

http://apitherapy.blogspot.com/2009/10/raw-honey-helps-with-pollen-allergies.html

http://www.reallyrawhoney.com/healthfacts.php

if you're in philly, the Bee Natural stand sells loads of local, seasonal and raw honey at Reading Terminal Market.

i encourage you to at least try it out. what do you have to lose?

gluttonous marathon

this weekend alia was visiting from dc. with a foodie cohort, she (we) were determined to eat our way through philly. my stomach is still recovering from the delicious marathon. highlights:

friday night: kati rolls and butter chicken from tiffin

sat night: rangoon

sunday:

9am: breakfast at morning glory

2pm: lunch at sangkee peking duck house

3:30pm: jasmine tea and dessert from tartes at home.

8pm: 5-course tasting at little fish

phew. we finished strong last night! now i am ready to "detox" with apples and yogurt and greens this week :-p

shout-out in iovine's newsletter!

i've clearly been slow at updating this blog. anywho, towards the end of summer, i got a shout-out in iovine's weekly newsletter on august 18! woohoo! i love iovine's and am there several times a week; especially since i live close by. they have some good local produce. check em out at the reading terminal market sometime when you're in the neighborhood :)

MEXICAN STREET CORN ...

Sweet, Spicy, Tangy and Delicious

Straight from Adeeb's foodie bloghttp://crumbsonmyface.blogspot.com

the coolest thing!

Last month I went out for supper at Supper with friends for restaurant week. The food was fantastic!

For my first course I ordered a soup which (I think) was described as "carrot, orange, truffle oil, mint, marshmallow." Hmm...sounded interesting, I had to try it! I was so delighted when it came out, because it was such a visual treat! It wasn't too sweet at all--and all the flavors were perfectly balanced. The soup was mostly carrot with an orange segment on the bottom of the bowl, and a small pool of truffle oil and a mint leaf in the center.

The coolest thing was the way the marshmallow was incorporated. It was a very thin layer of melted marshmallow coating the inside of one side of the bowl, then crispy and toasted (probably with a blow torch.) It was a beautiful and interesting sight! I scraped a little bit of marshmallow with every bite of soup. Yum!

Eat anything interesting lately?

food porn

i'm fortunate enough to indulge in good eats every once and a while. usually to my dining companions' embarrassment, i whip out my camera-phone and snap a picture of pretty things on my plate. here are a few from this summer: eye candy

'eat anything interesting lately?

beets

i. love. beets.

i love the earthiness, the sweetness, the smoothness of them. not only are they sumptuous in flavor and texture, but they're packed with all the good stuff!

i've been incorporating a lot of roasted beets in my lunches and dinners lately. they're super simple to roast. all you have to do is pop them in the oven, and in about an hour or so you're good to go! i like to roast a bunch over the weekend so i'm set for the following week. to roast:

1. wrap whole, un-peeled beets in foil

2. place foiled beets on baking sheet

3. roast in oven for 1.25 hours at 425 degrees

4. after cooling for a few minutes, use foil to rub off skin

one way i've been using roasted beets is in sandwiches for lunch. a beet sandwich is a hearty and healthy way to make beets accessible to people on-the-go! here's my take on the beet sandwich:

beets, cheese and greens sandwich: assemble a sandwich with your favorite bread (toasted), roasted beets, cheesy spread and whatever greens you have on hand. cream cheese, goat cheese or any other creamy cheese will work. (try to stay away from cheese that is heavily seasoned, or else it will take away from the subtle sweetness of the beets.) i've been using a garlic and herb cheese spread i found at reading terminal market and fresh baby arugula.

what's a favorite fruit or veggi that you have been cooking up a storm with?

offal--all the good stuff

a few friends and i shared an incredibly gluttonous evening last night at one of my favorite restaurants in philly, Zahav. since we're friends of the team at zahav, the kitchen very generously sent out a bunch of extra dishes to our table, including the "jerusalem grill." on the menu its described as "all the good stuff." i know it means its all the innards cooked in a wood-burning oven...ive had sweetbreads, kidneys, and livers in the past. but yesterday was a first. our server told us we were having duck hearts, rabbit kidneys and didn't name the third thing. hmm...suspicious. but in the midst of our barbaric attack on any and all food arriving at our table, we let that one go. anyway, the hearts, the liver, and the other round, flavorful delicacy were quite rich and delicious. mmm.

today i found out that we had in fact had duck hearts, rabbit kidneys, and duck TESTICLES. yes. duck TESTICLES.

although my immediate (and continued) reaction is to feel disgusted, i am actually glad i didn't know. im proud of my self for trying it all and was pleasantly surprised at the richness of 'all the good stuff.'

what's the most adventurous thing you love to eat?